The remaining NOAA personnel
disengaged from the mission on Monday. NOAA will continue to
make its marine forecasts available to the National Transportation
Safety Board (NTSB) and the U.S. Navy from its headquarters in
Camp Springs, Maryland.

The NTSB and the U.S. Navy
commended NOAA personnel for playing a vital role in finding
the debris area. NOAA HazMat personnel were instrumental in identifying
the origin of oil
slicks in the recovery area.

Previous Missions
The NOAA Ship Whiting also took part in the recovery operations
for JFK, Jr. last July off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. Its
sister ship, NOAA Ship
Rude, identified the location of the downed aircraft. The
NOAA Office of Marine and Aviation Operations also took part
in the recovery operations of TWA 800 in July 1996.

NOAA Office of Marine
and Aviation OperationsSince
NOAAs beginning, a large percentage of its oceanographic,
atmospheric, hydrographic, fisheries and coastal data has been
collected on NOAA
ships and aircraft. This fleet of platforms is managed and
operated by the Office of
Marine and Aviation Operations (formerly Office of NOAA Corps
Operations), an office made up of civilians and officers of the
NOAA Commissioned
Corps (a uniformed service of the United States). In addition
to research and monitoring activities critical to NOAAs
mission, NOAA ships
and aircraft provide immediate response capabilities for unpredictable
events, such as recovery and search efforts after the TWA Flight
800 crash, damage assessment after major oil spills such as the
Exxon Valdez, Persian Gulf War and New Carissa, and several major
hurricanes during the 1998 season.